''Lischen et Fritzchen'' is a one-act

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...

(« conversation alsacienne » - Alsatian conversation) with music by

Jacques Offenbach Jacques Offenbach (, also , , ; 20 June 18195 October 1880) was a German-born French composer, cellist and impresario of the Romantic period. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s to the 1870s, and his uncompleted opera '' ...

to a

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

by ‘P Dubois’ (Paul Boisselot), first performed in 1863.

Performance history

The premiere was on 21 July 1863 at the Kursaal,

Bad Ems Bad Ems () is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Rhein-Lahn rural district and is well known as a spa on the river Lahn. Bad Ems is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' (administrative community) Bad E ...

, during a successful summer season for the composer. The Paris premiere followed at the newly refurbished Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens,

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, on 5 January 1864, sharing the bill with ''

Les deux aveugles ''Les deux aveugles'' (, ''The Two Blind Men'' or ''The Blind Beggars'') is an 1855 one-act French ''bouffonerie musicale'' (operetta) by Jacques Offenbach.Lamb 1992, p. 1143. The libretto was written by Jules Moinaux and was a condensation of ...

'', ''L'amour chanteur'' and ''La tradition''.Yon, Jean-Claude. ''Jacques Offenbach.'' Éditions Gallimard, Paris, 2000. Both characters in the piece use an Alsatian accent in their dialogue and songs. It marked one of the early hits for Zulma Bouffar. A story that Offenbach had composed the piece in eight days to win a bet may only be a myth. Offenbach set the fable of The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse (to different music) in his Six Fables de La Fontaine (1842).

Roles

Synopsis

''A crossroads; a wine merchant’s house on the left with a seat outside, on the right a stone bench'' Fritzchen, an Alsatian servant, sacked because he presented his master’s lady with a beer (une bière) rather than a jewel (une pierre) rests by the roadside on his way back to Alsace. Lischen enters, also returning homeward as she cannot make any money in Paris for herself and her old father as a broom-seller. Fritzchen falls for the young Alsacienne, as they both plan to continue their journey. Lischen sings the story of

The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse "The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse" is one of Aesop's Fables. It is number 352 in the Perry Index and type 112 in Aarne–Thompson's folk tale index. Like several other elements in Aesop's fables, 'town mouse and country mouse' has become a ...

, which she had sung in Paris to make up the shortfall in selling brooms.See Wikisource for the La Fontaine fable
Accessed 13 June 2011. Adversity draws the two together, and during a conversation in which they admit their mutual love, it seems that they are brother and sister. However, in a letter from Fritzchen’s father it emerges that Lischen was an illegitimate daughter of his sister and therefore he was only her uncle. Now that a marriage between Lischen and Fritzchen is possible, in joy the couple join arms and continue their way home.

Musical numbers

* Overture * Couplets « Me chasser, me forcer » * Chanson « P’tits balais, p’tits balais » * Duo « Je suis alsacienne, je suis alsacien » * Fable « Un jour un rat de ville invita le rat des champs » * Final et duo « Quoi ! Fritzchen »

References

{{Authority control Operas by Jacques Offenbach French-language operas Operas One-act operas 1863 operas